


Taking a Break

by schrijverr



Series: YouTuber Dean Married Teacher Cas [7]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Accidental Child Acquisition, Alternate Universe, Castiel and Dean Winchester are Claire Novak's Parents, Domestic, Established Castiel/Dean Winchester, Established Relationship, Foster Care, M/M, Married Castiel/Dean Winchester, Married Couple, School, Sort Of, Teacher Castiel (Supernatural), YouTube, YouTuber Dean Winchester, it's a lot of plot you guys, wow i never tag this much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:47:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25167973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schrijverr/pseuds/schrijverr
Summary: After his stunt with the documentary, Dean takes a break. He uses this time to get to know his foster daughter that is practically family, Claire. The kid of Castiels cousin. She fits in great!
Relationships: Castiel & Claire Novak, Castiel/Dean Winchester, Claire Novak & Dean Winchester
Series: YouTuber Dean Married Teacher Cas [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1752514
Comments: 38
Kudos: 266





	Taking a Break

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, I did my best, but I do NOT know anything about foster care, I checked sites and stuff, but it will never be as realistic, so sorry for that. I will repeat this in the end notes, cause I never know if people read these, so tell me I'm curious lol
> 
> You can also find this work on my tumblr, which is also @schrijverr. I hope you pop in and say hi, because I'd love to talk to you! :)

After his stunt with the documentary about Cas, Dean didn’t post for a week, leaving fans to freak out from afar. But when he’d had his fun he posted a short video.

“Hi Hunters, it’s me again. It’s been a while, I admit, and this is a pretty short video for everything that happened in the last one, but I feel like I owe you an explanation.” Dean started.

“The last video about Cas wasn’t real, sorry if you got your hopes up or were scared and confused, but me and the others wanted to try something different and thought this would be a fun idea. Joking about Cas being an immortal angel has been an inside joke we’ve had for years now and seeing some comments about it gave me the idea.” Dean went on.

Then he said: “I’m not going to tell you all how we did it and I’m not going to tell you what’s real and what’s not. I quite like the mystery around it and I enjoyed all off the theories you guys came up with. I mean, I saw one connecting Cas to the Man in Black, which I thought was pretty clever and cool.”

“Anyway, this is not the point of the video. I mean, it sort of is, but also isn’t.” Dean paused and took a breath, “I am also announcing that I am taking a small break, nothing major and I will be back. I am not sick or something, my mental health is the best it has been in years, but sometimes you just need a break, so that’s what I’m doing right now.”

He waved and said: “So this will be it for the time being, till after a while. Bye Hunters, see you on the road!”

Then the video ended.

~

Dean posted it and turned off his laptop. He then walked over to the mirror and inspected himself again. He wasn’t wearing a suit, but he was wearing his nice clothes. They had someone special to meet today after all. He walked over to Cas, who _was_ wearing a suit, and asked: “Are you okay?”

Cas shrugged and said: “Honestly? I don’t know. I barely knew Jimmy and Amelia and it’s been such a long time, I don’t know if she would even want to go with us or if we can do it, if we’re ready. Or if she even likes us. We cannot replace her parents, Dean.”

Dean put his hand on Castiels shoulder and said: “Hey, it’s gonna be okay. We’re going to fuck up, sure, but we are going to love her, no matter what, yeah. We’re going to try our damn hardest to raise her as well as we can and to give her a family.”

A tear leaked out of Deans eye that he quickly wiped away, but Castiel wasn’t much better off, so they just gave each other a watery smile, before hugging each other tightly.

Neither had gotten the best youth there was. Dean had been carted around the country until he was fourteen by a grieving father, forced to care for his little brother, before Bobby had put a stop to it and taken them in. Cas had grown up as a small gay boy in a very religious household as the youngest with brothers he felt he could never be as good as, before being nearly thrown out when he had come out. He had spend two years traveling, before he felt mentally ready to take the next step and go to college, leaving most of his family behind.

But now they had a chance to save a kid from a fate like that, a fate with no family, all alone.

Jimmy was Castiels older cousin. They hadn’t been close, so he and Dean had been quite shocked to find out he and his wife had died a couple of years ago and that their daughter was now in foster care. 

Her name was Claire and she had bounced around homes for a couple of years now, until she had gotten into one with a better administration, who had actually taken the time to search for family that could take her in. Dean and Castiel hadn’t been the first one contacted, but they had been the ones, who had said yes the moment the woman had explained the situation over the phone.

It had been pure coincide that the documentary lined up with this. At first the plan had been the upload regularly again after week, but when they’d gotten the news, Dean had decided that a break was better.

They were silent on the drive over to the home, only opening their mouths to introduce themselves to the women from child services. She took them into a room and told them to sit down, while she went and got Claire.

Dean and Cas looked at each other, nervousness rolling off them in waves. In order to ground them both, Dean grabbed Castiels hand and squeezed it, smiling slightly as he felt Cas squeeze back.

Then the door opened and the woman from before entered followed by a scowling blond sixteen-year-old. She had heavy eye make up and wore a black hoodie and gray jeans. Claire didn’t look like she wanted to be there, but the woman either didn’t notice or pretended not to, as she sat Claire down and said: “I’ll leave you three to it to chat for a moment, get to know each other, while I ready the paperwork.”

Once she was gone there was an awkward silence in which no one said anything. In the end it was Dean, who broke it. He smiled and stuck out his hand as he said: “Hi, Claire. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Dean, this is Cas or Castiel.”

She looked him up and down and raised a brow at him, but she did shake his hand with a curt: “Nice to meet you.”

Dean wasn’t deterred as he went on: “So, I know this must be a bit sudden and we don’t want to make you uncomfortable or anything like that, but we just want to give you a home. We aren’t planning on being a temporary stop.”

That got her attention. She glanced at them, a little hope creeping into her eyes, before she pushed it away and huffed: “Yeah, sure.”

“We are serious, Claire.” Castiel said, deciding that opening his mouth was a smart move.

“Yeah, everyone means that, until I live there and they know me.” Claire shot back, “Why should you two be any different.”

“For starters, we already signed up for long-term fostering and second, we don’t give up on people.” Dean said.

Claire laughed and mocked: “‘We don’t give up on people’ what sort of motivational book have you read? I mean, do you even have any experience on not giving up on people.”

Dean was starting to feel a headache coming, but he also knew a teen that has been disappointed time and time again by adults like the back of his hand. Honesty would be the best option, he decided, so he leaned on the table and said: “I’m gonna be real with you, kid. I’m probably not cut out to be the best parent, but I do know a thing or two about raising people, yeah. I’ve raised my little brother since I was four and that wasn’t the easiest. I know what it’s like to bounce from home to home, never having a stable place to live. I was fourteen when I got that and that is two years earlier than you, but it made a difference. I went to college, I have a home, I’m married. I never thought I’d get that when I was your age. So, if I get to give that to someone else, I’m gonna grab that chance with two hands. Make it a competition if you will, see how much bullshit you can pull before we give up, because you can wait until you die if you try that.”

Both Claire and Castiel were silent after his little speech. Claire was processing everything while Cas gave her the space. He knew what Dean had been through and he knew the determination he had when it came to people he considered family.

After a few moments Claire nodded and said: “Alright, challenge accepted.”

Dean smirked and asked: “Shake on it?”

Claire rolled his eyes, but shook Deans hand again. Right at that moment the woman came in with the paperwork and before they knew it they were standing in front of the building with a Claire and two suitcases.

Dean showed her to their car, proud of his Baby. Claire frowned for a second, then said: “Hey, that car looks familiar.”

Giving her a look Dean asked: “Really? Where from?”

Claire shrugged: “Some boy at another home loved this YouTuber guy, I think he had a car like that. Big and black and old. I don’t know exactly, who it was.”

Behind her back Dean looked at Cas with big eyes. He had expected her to know him, but he also hadn’t really thought about his fame when they’d said yes to fostering her and now he was floundering about what to tell her. Claire noticed and eyed them suspiciously as she stated: “You know something.”

“Uh,” Dean said, “Yeah, I, uh, kind of am that YouTuber guy, I think.”

“Did you just do this for views?” she accused them, “Of course, all that bullshit about believing in stuff and shit. Fake. Just a money whore, great.”

“What? No!” Dean exclaimed, “I’m not- what? I hadn’t even thought about it.”

She gave him a disbelieving look and said: “Sure.”

“Really. I haven’t said anything about this on my channel or any of my social medias. I’m taking a break now, actually, to get to know you and get you settled in. I’m not planning on using you to get views, what kind of sicko would I be if I did that.” Dean said.

“And why should I believe that?” Claire asked.

“Well,” Castiel answered, “He’s edited me out of his videos for nearly seven years, because I was uncomfortable with the idea of being on camera and he’s stated in a previous video that he would never subject a child to the attention his channel gets him.”

Claire still looked like she didn’t believe them, but got into the backseat none the less, making Cas and Dean sigh a relived breath they hadn’t realized they were holding.

The ride back was awkward and the minutes seemed to pass like hours. After a while Dean had put on one of his cassettes, but it hadn’t been much of an ice breaker.

Once they were at the house Dean grabbed Claires suitcases and showed her to the room they’d cleared out for her. For now, she only had an air-mattress lying on the floor and Dean explained: “We wanted you to pick your own furniture, since we didn’t know what you liked. We hoped to go to IKEA tomorrow if it’s alright with you?”

Claire shrugged: “Sure.”

Dean said: “We can leave you alone for a while if you’d like. Or we can do something together. You can explore the house if you want. It’s up to you.”

“I think I just want to be alone for a second.” Claire said.

“Okay,” Dean smiled, “We’ll call you when dinner is ready. We’re eating burgers, hope you don’t mind.”

“No, I don’t.” Claire said absentmindedly as she took her suitcases from Dean.

When she was alone in the room she let herself drop onto the air-mattress and laid there for a moment, going through the last few hours in her head. After that she grabbed her phone and earphone as she opened YouTube and typed in ‘Dean’.

Two hours later and Claire had watched nearly all the videos Dean and Cas had done together. Her fears of being used for views had dampened considerably and she felt a bit more secure when she went down for diner. 

This time she actually looked around some more. The house was nice with white walls and shiny floors. On the walls were pictures, all family pictures it seemed, although it was of a ragtag group. She recognized Sam and Charlie from the videos she’s watched, along with Bobby, Jo and Gabriel. 

She stopped at a wedding photo and took it in. Dean was in a neat suit and Castiel in a dramatic wedding dress. They were looking at each other, just looking, but she could see the love in their eyes and smiles. 

Her gaze wondered over to another picture, this one was of Sam and Dean. They were leaning against the car she had sat in hours before and both held a beer in their hands. They were laughing about something, she didn’t know what, but they looked happy.

Then there was a big family type portrait that had everyone in it. Sam had his arm around a blond girl, Jess, Claire thought her name was. Charlie and Jo were making a silly face, while the three older adults looked tired, but amused. Gabriel was giving Cas bunny ears, but the man didn’t seemed to notice. He was too busy staring into Deans eyes.

Claire smiled at the wall of pictures, before hurrying downstairs, trying to find the dining table.

Dinner was weird. Dean and Cas asked her questions about what she liked and her hobbies and interest, while she tried to get to know them a bit better. It wasn’t until Cas grabbed his third burger that things got a bit more comfortable. 

When he reached for the burger, Dean snorted: “I should’ve filmed you eating burgers for my docu, sunshine, then everyone would’ve believed me. The amount you eat is abnormal.”

Cas pouted as he looked at Dean and he sulked: “I’m not weird, you’re just as bad.”

And that was true, Dean was steadily making his way through a second burger and both men knew he would probably eat a third one after. Claire watched the interaction and laughed a them, startling them both before they laughed as well.

After diner the three sat on the couch and watched a bad action movie with a big bowl of popcorn. Claire went to bed with a smile on her face and a hopeful bubble in her chest.

The next day was a Monday and Cas sadly had to go to work, Claire was still home to get used to the sudden change, but she would start school on Wednesday. All the reason to get her room in order today, Dean thought as he woke her up at nine AM.

She grumbled and moped, but inhaled the pancakes with vigor and by the time she had finished her coffee she was ready to make plans. Dean asked: “First things first. Do you want to paint your room?”

Claire shook her head and Dean nodded as he went on: “Okay, so now we need to decide how you want to furnish your room. Do you want a Queen sized bed or smaller? Broad or deep desk? Do you need a big wardrobe or a small one. Do you want a book case, a rug, something else? Oh and do you need more clothes?”

Claire blinked a bit at the barrage of questions and Dean rubbed his head when he realized it and said: “Sorry, bit much in one go.”

Claire nodded, but still answered, thinking hard about each answer. Then they were off.

IKEA had been quite the experience, with a lot of mattress testing and getting lost, but in the end they got all they needed. Claire now had a desk with chair, a Queen sized bed plus mattress and pillow etcetera, a wardrobe and shelf. She had felt quite bad that Dean had to buy so much stuff for her, but it also made her feel wanted, like this was permanent.

They loaded everything in the back of the car, Dean grumbling about how he missed Baby. He and Cas had switched for the day, since Castiels car could fit more stuff. Claire rolled her eyes at Dean and didn’t feel all that bad when he got offended.

After that they quickly dropped the boxes off at home and went to the mall to find Claire a bit more clothes. She had most stuff, but Dean had insisted she’d get some new outfits and Claire hadn’t really disagreed. Before they went in Dean turned to her and said: “It’s probably not going to happen, but if someone recognizes me. You can just walk away, pretend you don’t know me. Understood?”

“Understood.” Claire replied, “Although I don’t get what the big deal is.”

“Well, most people are nice and chill, but other will scour the entire Internet in the hope they find you and that can be shit and fricking annoying, so if you don’t want to be known, don’t know me if it happens, yeah.” Dean answered.

Then he pushed open the car door and went inside. An hour later they were done, now the proud owners of a lawn flamingo who had sunglasses on and some more clothes for Claire.

Back at home Dean looked at all the IKEA boxes and told Claire: “I know how to take apart a car engine and put it back together, but I can’t promise anything when it comes to IKEA furniture.”

Claire laughed, believing it was a joke, but when three hours had passed and they hadn’t gotten together more than her bed she wasn’t laughing anymore. Dean was struggling with a screw on her wardrobe when she couldn’t take it anymore. She pushed Dean aside and said: “Go, let me do this. You just do the heavy lifting. God, you’re hopeless.”

It wasn’t until after she was done with the screw that she realized how rude that had been after everything Dean had done for her, but her pride stopped her from apologizing. Although she dreaded to look back to Dean. When she finally got the courage she was surprised to find Dean smiling, she asked him what was so funny and he only said: “Nothing.”

But Dean was happy that Claire was comfortable enough already not to walk on eggshells around him, trying to please him in the hopes of keeping her. God, knows he had been a nervous wreck the first few months at Bobbys until Bobby had snapped and told him to stop acting like an idjit.

With Claire in charge the furniture was halfway to being completely done by the time Cas got home. When they heard the front door, Dean perked up immediately, but didn’t leave the room until Cas had called out to them and Claire was also going. 

He greeted Cas with a kiss and asked him how his day had been, while Claire hovered in the background. Castiel told him it had been good, before returning the question. Dean turned to Claire and said: “Maybe you can answer that?”

Claire hadn’t expected it, but she tentatively started to tell Castiel about their mattress testing adventure in IKEA and how they had ended up buying a lawn flamingo. And by the time Dean had gotten diner on the table she and Castiel were discussing old cold cases, which they had discovered a mutual interest in.

The next day was filled with more furniture building and chilling on the couch, while at night Claire made her way through more of Deans channel. She was hesitant to bring it up, but she did like the videos. Most of them were stupid, but overall entertaining and it seemed Dean really liked what he did, although the car videos couldn’t be more boring.

Then Wednesday came and Claire had to go to school. She was going to the same school Cas taught at, but they had arranged that she wouldn’t be in his classes. She also took the bus to school instead of driving with Cas, to avoid being seen with him. Claire wanted to make friends on her own, not because of Cas and Dean and she also didn’t want to be seen as weird.

Her first class was English, she didn’t mind English all that much, but she was nervous as hell to enter the classroom. She didn’t let it show on her face, however, allowing the teacher to introduce her before sitting down on the third row.

When they were allowed to work in groups on the homework assignment, Claire assumed she’d be working alone, but from beside her a girl leaned over and stuck out her hand. She said: “Hi, I’m Rey. Nice to meet ya.”

Claire shook her hand and mumbled: “Claire.”

Rey wasn’t deterred and gestured over to another girl and said: “That’s Mary.” the girl in question waved, “Want to work with us? We were supposed to do some research before this lesson, but I assume you didn’t do it, so you can use our sources if you’d like.”

Rey and Mary seemed friendly enough, so Claire shrugged and said: “Sure, thanks.” before pulling up her chair at their tables.

It wasn’t until they were mostly done with the assignment that Claire realized, who they were and how they knew her. Well, what were Dean and Cas? Not parents, hm, caregivers? Sure. Anyway, Rey had turned to her and asked: “Hey, do you know Dean? He’s a YouTuber, his husband works here at school. Me and Mary really like his work, although he’s taking a break now, but you should check him out.”

Mary nodded: “Yeah, he did a fake documentary about his husband being an angel recently, it was pretty good. I made some drawings for our Insta account, where I made an angel AU.”

Claire didn’t really know how to proceed. She liked the two girls, but they were talking about the guy, who had just taken her in with the intention to adopt her one day. So she stammered: “Uhm, yeah, sounds cool. Might look at it later.” and instantly facepalmed internally.

Rey and Mary grinned and Rey slung an arm around her as she said: “I think we’re going to be good friends.”

The rest of the day went by normally. Claire sat with Rey and/or Mary whenever they had a class together and she also joined them during the breaks. She didn’t say much and mostly listened to them talking about a variety of stuff, but she didn’t really mind. She’d gone to school that day expecting to be alone for the rest of her time there, like she’d always been, but instead she’d already found two girls she might call friends.

That night at dinner Dean asked them both how their days had gone. Cas answered first, just telling them that it had been good and about one of the kids, who had accidentally burned half his homework, how he had done it was still a mystery to Cas.

Then the attention was turned to Claire, who played with her food a bit while she said: “Good, it was good. Met two girls and talked to them, they seemed to like me.”

Cas and Dean both smiled and Cas said: “How nice. Want to tell us their names?”

Claire looked away then answered: “Uhm, Mary and Rey.”

Dean chocked on his food a bit, before he recovered and spluttered out: “That’s, that’s nice. Uhm, so what did you, what did you guys talk about?”

Claire was pretty pleased with that reaction, it had been pretty funny. She decided to mess with them some more saying: “Well, they recommended a YouTuber to me, I think his name was De-an or something?”

Dean opened and closed his mouth a few times while Cas still looked at her with big eyes. She went on as if she hadn’t noticed: “Yeah, apparently his husband works at our school, isn’t that cool?”

It was quiet for a moment, then Claire couldn’t suppress the grin she had been fighting the entire time. When Dean saw he grinned as well and said: “You little squirt, stop messing with us.”

With Deans reaction Cas also smiled as he shook his head. Then he said: “They are students of mine. They can be a bit overwhelming, but I hear you managed.”

Claire shrugged: “Well, it’s not like I’m much of a talker, so it was nice just to listen instead.”

“Good.” Castiel said.

“But I didn’t tell them about you guys.” Claire went on, “I don’t really know how to go about that. I mean, it seems like hiding, but otherwise it would feel like they don’t like me for me, but for you guys and I don’t want that.”

“Hey, you don’t have to tell them anything, okay.” Dean said, “Hide us as much as you like. We can always embarrass you later.”

Claire rolled her eyes, but a weight was lifted off her shoulders as she took her next bite.

Later that night she went downstairs to grab her earphones, which she had left on the counter. Dean was still awake and she wanted to greet him, before she realized he was on the phone. She stopped and listened to him as he said: “I know, Bobby. She should get to decide when to meet you all and I don’t want to force her or anything, I’m not dumb.”

Bobby said something on the other side and Dean replied: “Yeah, I should, but I don’t know how to begin to talk to her. I’m new to all this. I don’t want to ruin this.”

“Hey, hey, slow down on the insults, old man.” Dean smiled and was quiet for a second as he listened to Bobby, then he went on: “So, you think I should just ask her?”

He nodded at the answer, then asked: “But when, Bobby? How do you know when to ask someone ‘Hey, by the way, we suddenly took you in and we hope you like it here want to meet more random strangers?’ That’s not really something you want to hear when you’ve just uprooted your life.”

Bobby obviously said something, because Dean replied: “Yeah, but that was different. Me and Sam had already seen Jody in passing and we had met Jo before we went to school with her and Ellen watched us from time to time. Claire doesn’t know any of you all.”

“Yeah, I know she has to get to know you all some day, you’re family.” Deans eyes lit up suddenly, “Bobby, you’re gonna be the grumpy grandpa you were always meant to be! And Sam can be the nerdy shit uncle and Gabe is probably going to be the bad influence and don’t get me started on Charlie and Jo.”

“Yeah, all hope on Jody and Ellen.” Dean laughed, then he got serious and said: “But really, Bobby. Thank you, I’ll see if there’s an opportunity to ask her.”

Claire took that as her cue to go, she quickly backtracked out of the doorway and grabbed her earphones before hurrying back up the stairs.

The conversation she had overheard played in her mind that night. When she had seen the picture wall, she had realized that Dean and Cas had a bigger family than just the two of them, but it hadn’t clicked until now that she was going to be part of it as well. That she would have to meet them and hope they liked her too.

She stayed up longer than she was supposed to that night. Just staring at the ceiling and walking to different scenarios, most ending badly.

The days after were more awkward than the ones before had been. Claire didn’t want to have The Conversation and Dean didn’t know how to open it with her evasive behavior. Leaving her to mostly talk with Castiel. 

Castiel, she decided after a while, was pretty cool. He was a dork and kind of weird and sometimes he reminded her so much of her dad that she had to blink and look away for a second, but he also listened to her and talked to her like was an adult, something she desperately wanted.

Which was also why after a week of awkwardness between Claire and Dean, he sat down next to her and bluntly asked: “Did something happen between you and Dean?”

She quickly wiped away the look of surprise and shook her head. Cas went on: “Do you want to tell me, why you’ve been trying to avoid him then? You two seemed to get along.”

She bit her lip, then decided to come clean: “We do, he’s alright. I, I just heard him talking on the phone, with Bobby and it was about me meeting everyone and how to bring it up, but I don’t want him to bring it up, because I’m scared that when I meet everyone you consider family they won’t like me and you guys don’t want to keep me anymore and I like it here. For the first time I like it somewhere and I don’t want to loose that.”

Tears were streaming down her face and Castiel pulled her into a hug and held her close. After a few seconds he whispered to the top of her head: “We will never leave you, okay. If you’re not ready to meet anyone yet, then we won’t force you, but we won’t leave you, if someone has a bad opinion about you. But if you want to know, I really don’t think anyone will.”

She met his eyes shyly and softly asked: “Really?”

Castiel nodded and answered: “Really, the people we told already really want to meet you. I got a message from Charlie yesterday, asking if you liked _Lord of the Rings_ , because she wanted to marathon it with you. And Gabriel is already planning to prank Dean with you. They haven’t even met you, but they already like you.”

Claire burrowed herself into his side again and whispered: “Thank you.”

Cas smiled: “It’s no problem, Claire. Are you going to talk to Dean about this?”

He felt her nod into his chest and decided that was good enough as he squeezed her tightly.

Later she apologized to Dean about her behavior, but he waved it away and also pulled her into a hug when she had explained it to her. 

He said: “You don’t have to meet anyone.”

“I think I want to.” Claire said, then softer: “But I’m really, really scared.”

“Well, then we start small.” Dean replied, “You get to pick, who you want to meet, sound good?”

“Sounds good.” Claire smiled.

That Friday they had dinner at Bobbys along with Sam, while Jess had decided to stay home and leave them together. When they walked up to the front porch Claire suddenly stopped. Dean and Cas looked back at her and Dean said: “It’s gonna be good, just relax.” as Cas smiled and nodded.

They allowed Claire to knock and waited for Bobby to open. Bobby was dressed in his usual attire and Dean smiled as gave him a hug and he happily cried out: “Bobby!”

Bobby rolled his eyes as he returned the hug and said: “Yeah, yeah, I haven’t been missing for month or something, you know.”

“We know, Bobby.” Cas said with a smile as he also gave him a quick hug, then he laid a hand on Claires shoulder and said: “This is Claire.”

“Hi.” Claire said, awkwardly as she waved.

Bobby gave her a big smile and greeted her: “Hi, Claire, it’s nice to meet ya, I’m the one, who raised that idjit over there, he’s a bit of an idiot, but he means well.”

Claire laughed at that and Dean gawked a bit before turning to her and saying: “Don’t listen to him, I am very smart. He’s just an old grump.”

From down the hall a younger voice yelled: “Bobbys right, Dean. Don’t try and defend yourself. Now come here!”

“Sammy!” Dean called back happily, practically running into the house to greet his brother.

Cas rolled his eyes at his husbands antics and shared a knowing look with Bobby, before he ushered Claire inside. He warned her: “Sam is pretty tall, but he’s a puppy, so don’t be intimidated.”

Claire first found that a bit overbearing, but when she came eyes to chest with a huge guy with floppy brown hair, she did appreciate it. He had an open smile as he stuck out his hand and said: “So, you’re this Claire I’ve heard so much about. I’m Sam is nice to meet you.”

She shook his hand with a small half smile as she lightly joked: “Only, good things I hope.”, but Sam could hear the serious and scared undertone.

He replied: “Of course, you seem like a cool young lady.”

Beside him Dean laughed: “‘Young lady’, Sam what are you? Eighty? You’re just eight years older than her.”

“Whatever, Dean.” Sam rolled his eyes, “It’s not like you’re the most mature person.”

Dean grinned: “Nah, that’s Cas. He’s ancient.”

“God, don’t remind me of that.” Sam said, pinching his brow, “I got messages for weeks.”

Claire lit up and asked: “Oh, the documentary?”

Everyone turned to look at her and she blushed as she quickly looked away and mumbled: “Seemed like a good way to at least get a sense of where I ended up.”

“So did ya like it?” Dean asked her.

She shrugged and tried to play it cool: “It was obviously a parody, how people thought it was real I’ll never know, but it was fun. Well done. The editing was good.”

“Nice.” Dean said.

“God, are you done stroking your own ego. I’m hungry.” Sam whined.

“Like you need to get any taller, sasquatch.” Dean told him, but he sat down at the table next to Sam.

Castiel sat opposite to Sam and gestured to Claire to take place next to him, so she would be opposite of Dean, while Bobby sat at the head of the table. Claire was glad that the others seemed to have enough conversation to get through, before they turned to her. It gave her the chance to get used to the two new presences.

Sam seemed nice. He was obviously a younger brother, with funny and smart quips to put Dean down a notch. But he also could have good conversation with Cas, mostly about some boring History thing, Claire didn’t care for too much.

Bobby was less approachable, but he seemed like he was happy with the people at his table. When Sam and Dean were ribbing each other he got a proud smile on his face and he also engaged Cas in conversation, but they talked more about obscure religion, which piqued Claires interest, since her family had been pretty religious as well. So, after Bobby said something about an older version of the bible that mention something called a leviathan, she asked: “What’s that?”

She got a look and she added: “A leviathan?”

“Well, according to an old text I found they predate angels and all other living things. They were beasts and the reason God created Purgatory, because he needed to lock them away before he created other life, since they were so destructive.” Bobby explained.

“Cool.” Claire said, “Can you imagine if they walked the earth.”

“I imagine that would be quite apocalyptic.” Cas commented.

“Yeah, probably.” Claire sighed.

Bobby ignored Cas and told Claire: “They were also called Chompers, so what do you reckon they’d look like?”

Claire though about it and answered: “Maybe something with a huge mouth or something.”

“Oh, yeah. Maybe they’d look completely normal and then sudden BLAH, their whole face turns into a mouth and they’d swallow you whole.” Dean said excitedly.

“No, no,it’s Chompers, right? So, they’d need multiple bites, just blood everywhere.” Claire said, also getting into it as she gestured with her fork.

“That’s cool.” Dean said, “Maybe they would have like these rows of sharp teeth, like those worms from The Hobbit or that one fish. Cas, what was it called? The one with the light.”

“Angler fish,” Castiel replied, “but they don’t have multiple rows.”

“Oh.” Dean said, but Claire got the picture: “Oh, I know those! They do have sick teeth. That would be epic.”

Sam now also inserted himself into the conversation: “How cool would it be if they could body hop or something. I mean, you would think you were talking to a person, but it would be a leviathan and then suddenly you’d get attacked.”

“They were never described, so it could be.” Bobby said.

“Cool.” Claire and Dean exclaimed in sync, before turning at each other and laughing.

And just like that the stiffness that had hung in the room dissolved as the conversation just flowed between the five people there. At the end of the night all went home with smiles. In the car Cas turned to her and asked: “Was it as bad as you feared?”

Claire shook her head and answered: “They were nice. It was good.”

“I’m glad.” Dean grinned at her, then stepped on the gas.

Over the course of the next few weeks Claire slowly met the others. She and Dean went to drink something at the Roadhouse, where Ellen introduced herself. Claire had soon decided that she was cool and then Jo came over as well and she and Claire got along like a house on fire.

Charlie came over for movie night and it turned out that, she was the lesbian aunt Claire needed in her life. They’d bonded over the Bond Girls and over their taste in movie snacks. 

Gabriel had just called her one evening to help set up a prank, which she did happily. The next morning he was in their house to film Dean getting soaked in soap. He and Claire high-fived and Dean ranted for a while, but stopped at Claires grin and smiled back with a fond eyeroll. 

She met Jody last, when Dean couldn't pick her up from school in the week the bus didn’t drive due to a malfunction. She felt a bit weird when she climbed into the front of the cop car. She had driven a few times in the back of one, when she had ran away, but never in the front.

Jody smiled at her and introduced herself. Claire didn’t really know how to act around her during the short drive, but Jody, it turned out, was great at sensing what you needed. So, she just chattered on a bit about her day. 

They were almost at Claires home when she asked: “So, how do you like it with Dean and Cas. Are they treating you okay?”

That threw her a bit for a loop, so far no one had asked that in such a serious way, or without Dean and Cas present. She shrugged and admitted: “They’re great. They’ve done so much for me and I could never repay them for that. It’s really nice, having a family. It turns out they are very serious about adopting me and are trying to get through all the paperwork. And that’s, that’s just amazing.”

Jody smiled and said: “Good to hear I don’t have to have a stern talking to with them.”

“Oh, no, please don’t. That’s not necessary.” Claire quickly said.

Jody chuckled and reassured her: “I was kidding.”

“Oh, okay. Good.” Claire responded.

“Did you tell them?” Jody asked, going on with a serious tone, “What they mean to you?”

“Uh, no. Not yet.” Claire confessed.

“Maybe you should do that.” Jody said with a smile, “You don’t have to and they probably already know, but it’s nice to hear.”

Then the car stopped and they were in front of Claires home. Claire thanked her as she got out and said her goodbye. Jody did the same, but before Claire could close the door, she said: “Just think about it, okay?”

Claire didn’t know that Jody was the shoulder Dean cried on and the person he told all his worries to. How he had asked her about parenting tips and what to do and called her asking if he was doing it right. Sending her updates and questions. 

But Claire did listen to Jody, so that night she laid in bed and thought about what to do. She had always been a pretty distant person, no matter how much she cared about people, but usually that didn’t matter. Usually the people she was living with wanted as less to do with her as she with them, this was different. Dean and Cas wanted her, they wanted to be her parents. 

An idea shot into her head. 

Jimmy would always be dad in her mind, but there were more words than that. Father felt too formal, but Pops was good. But she had two dads, so she opened Google and looked. Papa, that was another one. She put her phone away with a smile and a plan.

She was brimming with nervousness the next morning at breakfast. Dean had gotten up as well and was making pancakes, while Cas was still upstairs stumbling tiredly through his morning routine. She was eating and stopped halfway through her stack to take a deep breath. Dean turned and looked at her with a worried expression, but Claire wouldn’t be deterred. She asked: “Hey, Pops, is Papa taking all the pancakes or can I have half for lunch?”

Dean mouth fell open and it seemed like he was broken. For a moment Claire got worried she’d done something wrong, but before she could ask she was wrapped up in two strong arms.

Still wiping the tears out of his eyes, Dean gave her a kiss on her forehead. He whispered: “Thank you.” then after one last squeeze, he smiled and asked: “Pops?”

She gave him a shove and said: “I could’ve picked old man or geezer, so watch it.”

Dean put his hands up in surrender and said: “I’m not complaining.”

Still a bit unsure, she asked Dean: “You’d think Cas will like it?”

“He’ll love it, sweetheart.” Dean told her with a smile.

Then Cas stumbled downstairs and filled his bees mug with tea as he mumbled a sleepy good morning. Claire waited until he was a bit more awake, before she asked: “Hey, uhm, Papa, want to give me a lift to school today?”

Cas let the fork clatter out of his hand and just stared at her for a second. Dean ruffled his hair and said: “It’s polite to reply, angel.”

That snapped Cas out of his state and he fell over himself to tell that of course she could get a lift and did he mention he loved her? 

Claire smiled at them a warm sense of comfort wrapping around her as she watched the two, who had taken her in smile at her and each other in the soft light of the morning. She smiled even more when she got all the pancakes and Cas a sandwich to take to school.

When she walked into English that day Mary and Rey noticed her good mood and ever curious Rey asked: “What are you smiling for so early in the morning?”

Claire plopped down in her seat and replied: “I called my foster parents, my parents this morning for the first time.”

That got their attention instantly and Mary said: “Congratulations!!” then she said: “I didn’t know you were in the system.”

“Yeah, oh and congrats, of course.” Rey added.

Claire shrugged and said: “It’s not really something I advertise, but it’s really cool. It’s my dads cousin, the foster home found him and contacted him. I fit really well, they’re planning on adopting me when they can.”

“Wow, that is so cool!” Rey said excitedly.

“Yeah, I’m so happy for you.” Mary added, “Makes our news a little less exciting.”

“Oh, what was it?” Claire asked.

Mary and Rey looked at each other, then Rey blurted out: “Dean announced yesterday he was going to start uploading again!”

Claire had already known that, Dean had been busy the past two weeks with filming a few videos in advance, so that they would be ready, but it had slipped her mind that it would be today. She smiled at her friends and said: “That’s great.” and then because she couldn’t help herself: “I have to admit you two got me hooked, I’m excited to see what he does next.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, I did my best, but I do NOT know anything about foster care, I checked sites and stuff, but it will never be as realistic, so sorry for that.
> 
> Also, did you all remember when I was in my other fics, like idk if we're gonna have kids??? Well, I changed my mind, because I love Claire and she deserves a place in my little found family I created here. 
> 
> I do feel like it was a bit rushed, but I'm pretty bad at slow things, so sorry if that was weird. But there is also less bad blood between them, since they weren't involved in the death of her parents here and stuff. And they have a lot in commen at the end of the day :)
> 
> And I don't want to go against myself and use Claire in videos, because family YouTubers make me uncomfortable, so I don't want to promote that even in a fictional verse, but if she ever gets revealed to the viewer it's never gonna be like how it is with Cas, maybe cameos or mentions, but not whole videos, so don't get excited for that. 
> 
> This also is a lot of plot and I will be back on my regular video shenanigans, but I will probably be doing more of this sort of works as well.
> 
> Anyways, Kudos and Comments fuel me and keep me working and writing, so that you so so much for leaving any if you did, because you are now my savior!
> 
> (sorry for the long notes!!)


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